DoT Launches 5G Innovation Hackathon 2025; Open to Students, Startups, and Professionals

DoT has launched the 5G Innovation Hackathon 2025, inviting students, startups, and professionals to develop cutting-edge solutions in next-generation technology.

DoT Launches 5G Innovation Hackathon 2025

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched the 5G Innovation Hackathon 2025, a six-month initiative designed to fast-track the development of groundbreaking 5G-powered solutions for societal and industrial challenges. Open to students, startups, and professionals, the program offers mentorship, funding, and access to over 100 5G Use Case Labs, empowering participants to turn innovative ideas into scalable technologies.

The 5G Innovation hackathon seeks proposals centred on key 5G applications, including AI-driven network maintenance, IoT-enabled solutions, 5G broadcasting, smart healthcare, agriculture, industrial automation, non-terrestrial networks (NTN), D2M, V2X, and quantum communication. The initiative provides extensive support to help innovators refine and scale their solutions, including assistance with IPR filing to facilitate the commercialization of their intellectual property.

5G Innovation Hackathon Dates and Structure

The hackathon will progress through multiple stages, each strategically designed to refine and advance ideas from submission to final evaluation. In the first stage, participants must submit detailed proposals outlining their problem statement, proposed solution, and anticipated impact. Institutions can nominate up to five proposals for screening by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), after which regional committees will assess and shortlist the most promising entries for the next phase.

After the initial shortlisting, the Regional Shortlisting stage will refine 150–200 selected proposals, providing teams with expert guidance to strengthen their ideas. The top 25 to 50 teams will then advance to the Pragati Phase, where each will receive an INR 1,00,000 seed fund to develop their prototypes over three months (June 15 to September 15, 2025). Key dates include the proposal submission window from March 15 to April 15, 2025.

During this phase, participants will gain access to mentorship, 5G Use Case Labs, and testing infrastructure to fine-tune their solutions. Additionally, teams with innovations eligible for intellectual property protection will receive support for IPR filing.

The final stage, Evaluation and Showcase, will be held in late September 2025, where teams will present their prototypes to a Technical Expert Evaluation Committee (TEEC) comprising 5-7 experts from the government, academia, and industry. Prototypes will be assessed based on four key criteria: Technical Execution (40%), Scalability & Market Readiness (40%), Societal & Industrial Impact (10%), and Novelty (10%). Winners will be announced in October 2025, with the top teams showcasing their innovations at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025. The announcement of the final winners will be made on October 1, 2025.

5G Innovation Hackathon Awards & Recognition

Winners will receive substantial rewards, with INR 5,00,000 awarded to the 1st place, INR 3,00,000 to the runner-up, and INR 1,50,000 to the 2nd runner-up. Additionally, special recognition will be given for the Best Idea and Most Innovative Prototype, each receiving INR 50,000. Ten labs will be honoured with Certificates of Appreciation for the Best 5G Use Case, while an Emerging Institute will be recognized with a certificate for the Best Idea.

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